Category Archives: News and Media

Emergency Services Minister Fran Logan says he will not be rushed into detailing plans to honour the Ferguson Report’s call for a rural bushfire service. The recommendation stemmed from an inquiry into the Waroona bushfires, which collected feedback from South West firefighters. “It is important that we do not rush the introduction of a rural…

The volunteer committee of the Association of Volunteer Bush Fire Brigades (AVBFB) do their best to get out into the regions and engage directly with members and other important stakeholders whenever possible. This weekend, the State Committee will be having a quarterly meeting in Collie and thanks to the wonderful team at the Allanson Volunteer…

This tragedy in Victoria highlights one of the reasons the Association of Volunteer Bush Fire Brigades (AVBFB) has been lobbying hard for more flexibility in the way ESL is allocated. The AVBFB believes that the current process of allowing only certain items to be purchased by certain types of BGUs is dangerous because that policy…

Coming to the tail-end of peak bushfire season, a “mild summer” saw a relatively quiet season on the fire front, according to the Department of Fire and Emergency Services. While the past few years had seen few major fire events, Lower South West DFES superintendent John Tillman is still warning against complacency. “In general, it’s…

It was great to see the hard-working crew at the Darlington VBFB take delivery of a new Light Tanker to replace its 10 year-old predecessor. We know there are conflicting priorities for the ESL, so on behalf of the highly professional and committed members of the Darlington VBFB, we thank DFES for providing a safer…

The following letter was published in The West Australian newspaper as a letter to the editor today: Of fire hazard reduction Concerning your editorial on firebreaks (Opinion, 14/2). I draw your attention to Minister for Emergency Services Fran Logan’s comment, “Without firebreaks you are putting (property owners) and the rest of the community in even…

Treasurer urged to reduce ESL after 2017 bushfire-free summer Emergency service volunteer numbers nosedive since ESL increase EMERGENCY service volunteers would be exempt from paying the emergency services levy and all households would get a cut in the bill under an election pledge from SA Best. The State Government controversially doubled the property-based charge in…

The Association of Volunteer Bush Fire Brigades (AVBFB) is extremely proud to represent the incredible 26,000 women and men who donate their time and highly professional skills every day and every night to keep our community prepared, safe and resilient. And we know that our amazing extended family is about as diverse as one can…

The following is an excerpt of a broader speech given in Parliament yesterday by the Member for Dawesville Zak Kirkup MLA: Mr Z.KIRKUP: I thought I might go through and try to reconcile some of the Labor Party commitments made in the electorate of Dawesville, because, of course, the electorate of Dawesville has had more money spent…

The following is an excerpt from a broader speech delivered to Parliament yesterday by the Member for Warren-Blackwood, Terry Redman: Mr T REDMAN: I refer to bushfire risk. I pay tribute to all the volunteers who were involved with the Augusta bushfire recently. We have not got to the bottom of it yet, but I presume…